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iPhone app sends drivers to runway, causing tarmac trouble

TARMAC TROUBLE: This Sept. 20, 2013 image provided by the Fairbanks International Airport shows the barricaded entrance to a taxiway, at Float Pond Road blocking access to Taxiway B in Fairbanks, Alaska. A glitch in the Apple Maps app on newer iPhones and iPads guides people up to this runway at Fairbanks International Airport instead of the proper route to the terminal. Photo: Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An airport official says a glitch in the Apple Maps app on newer iPhones and iPads guides people up to a runway at a major Alaska airport instead of sending them on the proper route to the terminal.

The map actually stops at the tarmac, but twice this month, wayward drivers have continued across an active runway.

“It doesn’t actually tell you to cross, but the problem is, people see the terminal then at that point, because they are right there, and they just continue across,” said Angie Spear, a spokeswoman for Fairbanks International Airport.

There were no injuries in either the Sept. 6 incident or a second one last Friday, mainly because they both happened early in the morning, between flights.

Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., didn’t immediately return a message to The Associated Press but has since fixed the app.

To be fair, the drivers deserve some blame.

The maps stop at the runway, but the drivers continued about a mile through a gate, past warning lights, numerous signs and painted concrete markings saying not to proceed.